1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for making patterned metallic ribbons in helical form for continuous edge winding applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The fabrication of glassy alloy magnetic ribbon for use in electric motor applications is commonly believed to involve conventional punching operations performed on sheets or strips of the ribbon. However, a low filling or packing factor will result from conventional or prior art laminations of known glassy alloys because of the greater number of punchings required when compared with the number of punchings required when using prior art materials for laminations. This is because of the inherent limit on thickness in melt-quenched glassy alloy specimens. The overall effect is to increase the size and cost of the finished electric motor, thereby negating the savings offered by use of the glassy alloy material. A prior art method of making glassy alloy ribbon is to extrude the alloy in molten form through an appropriate orifice in a crucible and to subsequently impinge the melt jet onto the circumferential surface of a rapidly rotating substrate wheel. The melt jet is typically made to lie parallel to the plane of the substrate wheel. The ribbon so formed has the shape of conventional tape or ribbon and can be wound upon a spool.
It would be desirable to manufacture a motor stator comprising two concentric pieces of material. A center piece would be prefabricated with teeth and windings. The outer piece would be prefabricated or built in situ from an edge-wound strip in the form of a large helix.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a method for making metallic ribbon in a continuous helical form.
Another object of this invention is to provide a method for making a new and improved edge-wound glassy alloy magnetic ribbon in a helical form.
A further object of this invention is to provide a method for making edge-wound metallic or glassy alloy magnetic ribbon in a nest helical form.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method for making edge-wound metallic or glassy alloy magnetic ribbon with prefabricated cutouts therein for making, as an example, a motor stator.
Other objects of this invention will, in part be obvious and will, in part, appear hereinafter.